A new industry, government and universityconsortium seeks to downsize fuel cells.

Photo by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Clean, affordable and highly efficient solid-oxide fuel cells on the market in 10 years.

That is the goal of a new industry, government and university consortium led by two Department of Energy labs—

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Called the Solid-State Energy Conversion Alliance, SECA's aim is to develop a fuel cell that meets the diverse power needs of multiple markets and runs on abundant fossil fuels, such as natural gas, gasoline and military fuels.

A proposed five-kilowatt solid-oxide fuel cell module (left in illustration) will be used to meet smaller energy needs or be combined with other identical modules (right) to handle larger power requirements.

Members of SECA believe they can reduce fuel cell costs through mass production of a versatile, five-kilowatt fuel cell module.

In the future, the module is envisioned to meet energy needs for residential, military and transportation markets.

Nearer-term applications include auxiliary power to operate heaters, air conditioners and other accessories in cars and tractor-trailers, and complex electronics on military equipment.

Developers also foresee modules that are stackable, so units can be combined to accommodate larger power needs.

DOE funding for the consortium is projected to be $350 million over the next 10 years.

February 20, 2004

World's First Fuel Cell-Powered Train Locomotive Slated for 2008

MesoFuel, Inc. has been awarded a contract by Vehicle Projects LLC of Denver, CO to design and manufacture the hydrogen generator for a fuel cell-powered train locomotive.

This will be the largest fuel cell powered vehicle ever built. This project was conceived by Vehicle Projects and completion is scheduled for 2008.

"We selected MesoFuel to design and manufacture the ammonia-based hydrogen generation system because of the compactness and efficiency of its MesoChannel hydrogen generation systems," said Vehicle Projects LLC President Arnold Miller. "MesoFuel is the leader in power-dense hydrogen generation from ammonia, and the ability to process this attractive fuel was a key consideration for us."

MesoFuel, along with multiple organizations, will work on the multi-million dollar project in order to produce a complete fuel cell power source that is capable of replacing diesel engines in locomotives.

"Providing a simple, low fuel cost ammonia-based hydrogen generation system for this project is exciting because ammonia is an excellent fuel choice," said MesoFuel CEO Ned Godshall.

"It has an extremely high volumetric energy content and is available nationwide via railcar.

Three-quarters of all the atoms in ammonia are hydrogen atoms --

this liquid is one of the most energy-dense forms of hydrogen available --

and so is therefore ideal for the distribution and production of the hydrogen needed for hydrogen fuel cells."

In addition to the fuel-cell-locomotive project, fuel cells are expected to soon have numerous commercial and defense applications

because they provide an efficient, zero-emission power source required for future technologically-advanced electronic systems and vehicles.

MesoFuel products enable the on-site, on-demand production of pure hydrogen for fuel cells.

The development of MesoFuel technologies have been partly funded under the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) Palm Power Program and the Army Research Office.

Using micro- and meso-scale technology, the company produces on-site, on-demand hydrogen generators for environmentally-friendly consumer, industrial, and military fuel cell applications.

MesoFuel has developed hydrogen generation systems that operate on a variety of fuels, including both light and heavy hydrocarbons, de-carbonized fuels such as ammonia, and renewable fuels such as soy diesel. MesoFuel provides the fuel for fuel cells.

02/05/2002 There’s a power revolution coming, and it will run on hydrogen.

Fuel cells use chemical reactions to produce electricity from hydrogen fuel (some start with compounds such as methanol and then extract the hydrogen).

Unlike batteries, which store a fixed amount of energy, fuel cells can produce power as long as they are supplied with fuel.

Today, the world buys several hundred million dollars worth of fuel cells each year to provide power generation for utilities, buildings, spacecraft and industrial machinery.

As the technology improves, fuel cells are predicted to overtake batteries in many applications, from backup power to mobile electronics.

And the fuel cell industry is chasing an even bigger target: the internal combustion engine.

After a century of refinement, the engine in your car is still only 25% efficient—that is, only a quarter of the energy stored in its fuel is converted to useful work.

Fuel cells, on the other hand, convert nearly fifty percent of their hydrogen fuel into electricity—with the potential for further improvement.

And where the internal combustion engine coughs out a cloud of smog, hydrogen fuel cells produce only water.

But many challenges stand in the way of fuel cell cars, including how to increase cells' durability, reduce their cost, and improve fuel storage. The greatest challenge may be to create an infrastructure to extract and deliver the hydrogen fuel. Last month, the Department of Energy announced a new effort to tackle these challenges with government and industry research into automotive fuel cells.

Fuel cells work by harnessing the chemical attraction between oxygen, which is taken from the air, and hydrogen, which is stored in a tank, to produce electricity.

A catalyst pries apart hydrogen atoms into a positive ion and electron.

The positive ions pass through a membrane to bond with the oxygen; the electron travels around the membrane and through a circuit, generating electrical current.

On the other side of the membrane, the oxygen, hydrogen ions and electrons form water.

Because hydrogen is difficult to store and transport, some fuel cells are designed to use methanol or other hydrocarbon fuels, and work by extracting the hydrogen.

But these designs aren't as efficient, and they emit carbon dioxide as well as water.